NCAA Mens hockey bracket

[psh 25]

Quick impressions from yesterday:

Man, what a day of hockey. Duluth's goaltender, Reiter, looked absolutely horrible. And Sandelin's decision to start locking down after the 4th goal really made me wonder. Duluth's game is speed and puck possession. You don't revert to dump and chase, conceding half the ice, and lining up on the red line for 25 minutes of a game. That was crazy--playing right into Notre Dame's hands if you ask me. But, in the end, Notre Dame looked completely outmatched. That was one of the more lopsided one goal victories I can recall. Still, the goaltending and coaching have to leave doubts in people's minds. Another memory from that game will be how Tynan can fly. Wow.

In the second game, it was all Hunwick. All 5'7" of him. Unbelievable. And he seemed to be having fun. No nerves. I've only seen him play a few times, but Frattin really is everything people say he is. But Kristo was a non-entity. How can a guy dominate the world juniors and then lay an egg in a game like that? And speaking of flying, the whole Michigan roster seems to be made up of speed demons. That forecheck, especially in the first period, was dominant. But ND kept coming. Michigan's #7, the freshman, was fantastic. As was Lanlais. But, as a team, I will always be baffled at how they could advance this deep in the tournament. I can't think of a single tape to tape pass in the offensive zone, other than on the power play, that Michigan completed. They looked absolutely lost and without chemistry all game long when it comes to offensive zone puck possession. And UND's defensemen are not generally fleet of foot. The way the game was called was mystifying, too, but that's another subject and it didn't seem to impact the game, other than robbing it of any flow at all.

I think UMD got the matchup they would have picked. Hunwick is scary dialed in. But, the Dogs' PP against Hunwick could be a very fun show to watch.

[jrhky36 1]

congrats to umd they outplayed my beloved u of m in every sense of the game,

[xFortune 0]

Damn you Minnesota :(

[goblue9280 33]

congrats to umd they outplayed my beloved u of m in every sense of the game,

My thoughts exactly. That top UMD line (Connolly's) played outstanding... on the other hand, Michigan's top scoring line disappeared. Haeglin and Caporusso played well defensively (again) but Michigan needed them to score. And of course, Michigan killed themselves (yet again ) with the penalties. It destroyed all the momentum they had after the first goal. OT was just ugly... not sure why we couldn't get the puck out of our zone without icing it. Congrats to UMD, they definitely deserved to win... now they just have to do something about the hideous bleached hair...

[psh 25]

My thoughts exactly. That top UMD line (Connolly's) played outstanding... on the other hand, Michigan's top scoring line disappeared. Haeglin and Caporusso played well defensively (again) but Michigan needed them to score. And of course, Michigan killed themselves (yet again ) with the penalties. It destroyed all the momentum they had after the first goal. OT was just ugly... not sure why we couldn't get the puck out of our zone without icing it. Congrats to UMD, they definitely deserved to win... now they just have to do something about the hideous bleached hair...

Sweet win for UMD. I don't know if it was Duluth's speed relative to UND, but I didn't notice Michigan's speed last night. However, I thought Michigan did play a better overall game last night than they did on Thursday. It's pretty awesome to watch a team execute and adjust with Berenson behind the bench. Duluth seemed to have Michigan bottled up for about half the game, but then Michigan started with the stretch passes down the boards and identified some seams right inside the blue line. I'm looking forward to watching the game on ESPN3 and seeing if there was any discussion of those shifts throughout the game. It's also hard to watch how the matchup strategy is going when you're there. Was Berenson mostly going top line vs. top line?

Good game, Blue. You have incredible fans. And congrats to Duluth. That first championship is so sweet. I hope this helps the program for a long time, especially with the Big 10 coming. I've always wondered how Sandelin can recruit and stay competitive with UND not far to the west and the Gophers not far to the south. Amazing job.

[Too Old 1]

Wish we had JT Brown still here in the USHL for Waterloo...

[trevor13478 1]

Anybody else watching the game live hear one of the UMD players during their celebration in the corner yell very clearly on national TV "How's it feel Fucker?!" to the guy who scored? ESPN might have to start being more careful with these NCAA games between this and Kemba dropping an N-word the other day in the basketball tourny. In reality there's not a whole lot they can do and hopefully they don't overreact and cut out the ice level mics or anything

[epstud74 24]

A side note, Coach Sandelin of UM-D was traded by the Montreal Canadiens to the Flyers for JJ Daigneault back in the 1988-1989 season

[goblue9280 33]

Was Berenson mostly going top line vs. top line?

It seemed like he was playing the Rust line (Michigan's 2nd) a lot against the Connolly line... I believe that was the matchup Red was going for.

[psh 25]

It seemed like he was playing the Rust line (Michigan's 2nd) a lot against the Connolly line... I believe that was the matchup Red was going for.

Thanks. Rust is an amazing skater. Good hockey family there!

[fogelberg 9]

My thoughts exactly. That top UMD line (Connolly's) played outstanding... on the other hand, Michigan's top scoring line disappeared. Haeglin and Caporusso played well defensively (again) but Michigan needed them to score. And of course, Michigan killed themselves (yet again ) with the penalties. It destroyed all the momentum they had after the first goal. OT was just ugly... not sure why we couldn't get the puck out of our zone without icing it. Congrats to UMD, they definitely deserved to win... now they just have to do something about the hideous bleached hair...

Now that my mourning period is over...I couldn't agree more! I told a buddy of mine before the game that UM had to stay out of the penalty box. They didn't, and it killed them. Awesome cycling on the game winner! UM lost the guy coming off the boards. Just a great play all around. Funny that the game-winner was scored by the only kid that didn't bleach his hair.

[hampshirepuck 2]

I thought this might be of interest to everybody....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576136462675400454.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424052748704132204576136563999741404%26articleTabs%3Darticle